what is worth more????white gold or 10k gold?

Justin answers:

Pure gold is yellow. Generally people value pure gold more than gold mixed with other metal. Pure gold is 24K, or sometimes called .9999 gold, meaning it is 99.99 percent pure.

10K gold is less than 50 percent gold and more than 50 percent other metals. Its value can vary but people generally value it only for jewelry or for melting it down and extracting the pure gold. The other metals mixed with the gold are generally of greatly lesser value. 10K gold is used for cheap jewelry like gold chains you might see in Wal-Mart. There is nothing wrong with 10K gold, but it is less than 50 percent gold.

In my personal opinion, the only gold worth owning is pure gold, for investment purposes or for jewelry, or jewelry which has 18K gold, with the other metal in the 18K alloy being silver. The reason for gold-silver alloy is that it might be stronger than pure gold in resisting dents or bends, as pure gold tends to be a bit softer than other metals.

Other kinds of gold, called “white gold” or whatever, are just cheap. Gold has special qualities that make it valuable and make it good for jewelry. Other metals tarnish, so they don’t stay shiny. Also, you can be allergic to other metals, and some are actually poison. Gold is very inert, so it won’t tarnish and it will not cause you allergies or poisoning.

Beside gold and silver, the only other metal really of value that is commonly used in jewelry would be platinum. Silver tarnishes and corrodes, but platinum does not. Platinum has a ‘white’ look, not quite as clear as polished silver. Platinum is of similar or greater value than gold, and like gold is fairly inert. The disadvantage of platinum is that it is stronger than gold, which makes it more difficult to work with for making jewelry.

Some people wear stainless steel jewelry. I think that’s a nice idea, as stainless steel is quite shiny, strong, and relatively cheap. It is often used in men’s watch bracelets and watch casing, and sometimes men’s rings and belt buckles. But basically stainless steel is made from iron and has little monetary value compared to precious metals.

John asks…

can i still get a girlfriend if im poor?

Justin answers:

Of course! Relationships like that are based on the person, not their income-unless you were looking for a hot but gold-digging woman… >_>
Although, as a poor person myself, I can foresee pretty well the disadvantages with dating a poor person. You don’t have a lot of money for dates, or gifts, and it can be embarrassing to mention to friends or family that you’re “just getting by”, no matter how happy you truly are, especially in this consumer driven society. Then, of course, there’s living with the “poor” tag and the stigma that comes with it when you’re not together, making it seem like being with a poor person is a deeper emotional investment than being with someone who’s “better off.”
However, poor is simply a state of mind, and this is key to you eventually finding a relationship, as well as being okay with ultimately having little to nil. Think about it… There are people in the world who’s beliefs(religious, political, etc.) are attached to accepting poorness as a vehicle or an ultimate destination for their goals, and they still lead VERY awesome lives. Change your thinking about it all. You’re not poor looking at a race you can’t afford to compete in, you’re using a different lane. Think in terms of opportunity, not dollars. And, above all, be your own number one fan, because you’re the only thing that’s forever certain in your life.
Good Luck! 🙂

William asks…

Don’t you think Futures ( and options ) trading be banned?

It has done more harm than benefits. Don’t you think it should be stopped in stocks and well as commodities ? It will save many getting bankrupt. What are your views ?
Edit – I do not know to what extent financial investment institutes really use futures as hedging tool and how many small farmers get benefited because they can sell their commodities in market directly.

One thing I know for sure. It instigates gambling tendency in common man in which even if you do not have money to buy stocks you can play on “margins”. As Warren buffet has said Futures is sure shot way for bankruptcy.

It is gift of American financial wizards to world. I hope they take lead to stop it.

The recent downfall in silver prices is classic examples of market manipulation in futures.

Justin answers:

Only Ivory Fish is arguing against banning futures and options?! I don’t think that his argument that it is better for him to buy $2400 worth of calls instead of $10,000 worth of stock is very compelling for the societal benefits of trading options and I don’t think that those are the same investment (the options have a much lower delta and a much higher vega and if you don’t know what that means don’t play with options).

Futures and options have contributed enormously to global wealth by allowing for efficient risk transference from people who don’t want risk to people who do. A corn farmer should be able to budget for corn growing season without taking on price risk. A mining company should be able to make payroll regardless of whether gold is selling at $1500 or $1000. Lumber producers should be able to decide whether a projectis viable without guessing what the price of lumber should be. The reason they can do these things is that others (almost always speculators) are willing to take on price risk.

Futures contracts are amazing tools for price discovery. A corn farmer can take his crop to a grain elevator and sell it without worrying that if he took it to some different grain elevator he would receive a much better price. People on Yahoo Answers can ask “what is the price of silver?” and get one response not a “Well, at the dealer near me…”. A market for commodities with one price is an efficient market.

Futures havce contributed enormously to the standardization of quality in the products by setting deliverable specifications. Oil delivered in the US has a uniform sulfur content. Pork delivered in the US has a uniform fat content from pigs that are all three years old.

Options allow people to insure their positions. Every time you get a floating rate loan with a cap on the maximum interest you can pay, you can thank the options markets for allowing you to buy that option. Mom and Pop shouldn’t face foreclosure because of interest rate movements particularly when there is some hedge fund that wants to take on that interest rate risk for them. People ought to be able to buy stocks and protective puts when they are expressing a view that this is a great company unless [blah] happens when they will be crushed. If some speculator wants to take on [blah] risk, the options market has just added liquidity to equity markets.

The disadvantages of futures and options markets do not really include people going bankrupt. Efficient risk transference means that futures and options markets have kept way more people from going bankrupt than they have caused to go bankrupt. Fewer bankruptcies are a reason to like derivatives markets. There are disadvantages to derivatives markets like there are idiots who play them (know how many people bet their food stamp money on Lotto?) and this should probably be curtailed more than it is. They also provide a really efficient mechanism for hoarding, especially in oil markets. The CFTC ought to do more to stop this as hoarding oil just enriches Arab oil states at Western expense.

If you don’t like efficient allocation of capital, commodity standardization and quality enhancement, liquidity in capital markets, proper risk allocation, efficient production of commodities, stable producers of commodities, etc. Then let’s get rid of futures and options markets.

Edit: “It instigates gambling tendency in common man ” as a reason for banning futures and options markets sounds like a religious issue to me. I’m also against banning beer, short skirts, and really big cleavage but I can’t argue with someone’s need to police someone else’s morality.

The recent drop in silver prices had nothing to do with market manipulation and everything to do with bubble in silver prices. I am totally, completely, 100% behind the idea that we need to stop idiots from hoarding precious metals but there are tons of participants on Yahoo who think hoarding silver is a good idea. Everyday someone posts about how hoarding silver and gold are better than capitalizing the production of goods and services. Can the futures markets really be blamed for this?